There’s little glamour to the latest housing development to break ground along Metro Transit’s Green Line light-rail corridor in St. Paul, but plenty of optimism.

When its doors open next summer, Prior Crossing at 1949 W. University Ave. will welcome 44 teens and young adults, many of them well-acquainted with the foster care system, couch hopping and homelessness. Their studio apartments will offer few frills but a strong sense of mission.

Beacon Interfaith, an interfaith housing collaborative, welcomed political and civic leaders on Monday to the northeast corner of Prior and University avenues, where a $10.7 million project will create housing for young people who have experienced homelessness. They will generally range in age between 18 and 22.

“I always think about ‘where would I be right now?’ And I can’t answer it. I’m afraid to think about where I’d be,” said Erika Jamison, 19, who had been homeless for about a year before landing at Nicollet Square, another of Beacon’s properties in Minneapolis, six months ago.

Before that, Jamison stayed seven different places over eight months: her ex-boyfriend’s place, her car and five different shelters.

The latest youth housing development will be the first of its kind for both St. Paul and Ramsey County. It represents a growing awareness among housing advocates and social service providers that many of the root causes of long-term homelessness are best addressed in the early stages of adulthood.

“We believe what we’re doing can end the cycle of homelessness for people who would be at-risk for long-term homelessness,” Beacon Interfaith spokeswoman Kris Berggren said.

The goal isn’t just to offer a roof over the heads of homeless young people, but also to provide supportive services, such as job counseling. Their stays may vary from one year to several.

That’s a departure from the typical youth shelter that houses young people on an emergency or drop-in basis in hopes of connecting them with outside agencies, such as a county foster care system. Shelter beds may keep youth warm for a few nights at a time, but they offer little day-to-day stability or privacy.

Prior Crossing “is not a shelter, and it’s not transitional housing. It is permanent supportive housing for youth and young adults,” Berggren said.

The model isn’t widespread, but it isn’t new. Since 2010, Beacon Interfaith — formerly known as the Plymouth Church Neighborhood Foundation — has run a 42-studio youth housing development, Nicollet Square, on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis.

At Prior Crossing, prospective tenants will be referred by school counselors, Ramsey County social workers, and other public agencies and nonprofits. “Some young people, they’ve been in foster care, and they’re aging out, and they don’t have the means to be on their own right away,” Berggren said.

The St. Paul-based nonprofit, which owns 16 affordable- housing properties in partnership with 70 congregations, plans to build its third youth-housing development in Edina, if funding comes together. Similar “supportive housing” services for young people include the The Link’s Lindquist Apartments in Minneapolis, which opened a decade ago, and Lincoln Place, which opened in Eagan in 2010.

The Amherst H. Wilder Foundation will oversee Prior Crossing’s support programs, including training toward general educational development, or GED degrees, for those tenants who have not finished high school.

To support the $10.7 million in construction, Beacon Interfaith painstakingly arranged a patchwork of resources in stops and starts over the last four years.

The House of Hope Presbyterian Church at 797 Summit Ave. in St. Paul began discussions about youth housing with Beacon Interfaith in February 2011, which led to the formation of a joint task force.

“There are a lot of housing needs out there, but the issue of homeless youth, and the numbers of homeless youth are just staggering. It’s shameful,” said David Van Dyke, pastor of House of Hope Church.

The church has invested in other homeless housing projects in the past, but this was the largest to date — both in terms of money spent and hours invested.

“It’s one thing to cut a check, it’s a whole different kettle of fish to show up at council meetings,” Van Dyke said.

The partnership’s first private funding commitment came in April 2012 when the church fund donated $500,000 to the effort, which helped draw public matches. The Met Council approved $927,000 in December 2012.

The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency devoted $7.8 million in tax credit financing and other funding last year. The city of St. Paul granted $1.1 million.

The housing collaborative purchased the old commercial building at 1949 University Ave. in August 2012 and recently demolished it. Tenants, who will live in 44 studio apartments, are expected to move in late next summer, once construction is complete.

In St. Paul, Beacon Interfaith also maintains two single-room residences for adults who have experienced homelessness — American House in Lowertown and Kimball Court on Snelling Avenue.

Frederick Melo was once sued by a reader for $2 million but kept on writing. He came to the Pioneer Press in 2005 and brings a testy East Coast attitude to St. Paul beat reporting. He spent nearly six years covering crime in the Dakota County courts before switching focus to the St. Paul mayor's office, city council, and all things neighborhood-related, from the city's churches to its parks and light rail. A resident of Hamline-Midway, he is married to a Frogtown woman. He Tweets with manic intensity at @FrederickMelo.

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